8 Critical Cold Sore Stages

Let’s look at the 8 distinct cold sore stages, and what you can do now to lessen the severity, ache and length of your cold sore event.

Cold sore stages 2-8 are the active stages and are very catching during this time. Usually 3 to 4 weeks is the mean life-span of a cold sore. Much depends on your health and choice of treatments for each of your cold sore stages.

COLD SORE STAGES: #1 – LATENT – Here the cold sore herpes simplex virus is hiding in the nerve ganglia near the back of the jaw on the same side as your cold sore usually appears. The cold sore virus may “sleep” for weeks or years without thing. Your body’s defense “soldiers” keep them in check. When there is stress in a further part of your body, your defenses may drop at this place. Then the cold sore virus can escape and travel to the go up to reproduce – beginning the active cold sore stages.

COLD SORE STAGES: # 2 – PRODROME – The cold sore virus reproductive cycle starts here. The cold sore virus travels down your nerve fibers to the go up. This movement causes your cold sore target area to itch or tingle. You may notice a burning or understatement sensation. This stage could last a few hours to a few days before inflowing the more intense cold sore stages.

COLD SORE STAGES: # 3 – INFLAMMATION Your cold sore virus has now arrived at the go up and starts it’s reproductive cycle by inflowing the cells at the end of the nerve. This causes a lot of puffiness and redness at the cold sore site as your cells react to being invaded by the herpes cold sore virus .

COLD SORE STAGES: # 4 – PRE-SORE – Cold sores at this stage are defined by the advent of cold sore vesicles. A full blown cold sore is not one huge blister but a grouping of small blisters called vesicles. You will notice these vesicles as tiny, hard inflammation or red bumps that are painfully insightful to the touch.

COLD SORE STAGES: # 5 – OPEN SORE – Your most painful and catching of the cold sore stages. All the vesicles break open and merge to make one huge open, crying sore. Depending on the severity, you may develop a fever and inflated lymph glands under the jaw.

The crying fluid is teaming with newly born cold sore viruses. Touching this fluid, you could easily spread the cold sore virus to a further part of your own body or to someone else – either by direct touch or shared objects such as hand towels, telephones, and faucets.

COLD SORE STAGES: # 6 – CRUSTING – A cold sore will develop a yellowish crust or scab as it starts to irrevocably start the remedial process. Your cold sore is still painful at this stage. More painful, though, is the continuous cracking of your cold sore scab when you go or stretch your lips, as in smiling.

COLD SORE STAGES: # 7- Remedial – Cold sores, once scabbed over, start remedial from the inside out. As new skin forms under the crust, you will experience frenziedly itching, irritation and some pain. Your cold sore virus is now retreating back to the nerve ganglia area where it will sleep until the next opportunity.

COLD SORE STAGES: # 8 – POST SCAB – Cold sores at this stage no longer have a noticeable cold sore scab and your skin has really healed. Under your new skin, remedial is still taking place as the ruined cells are regenerated. This produces a red spot that may linger for a further 2 to 14 days – depending on your confidential remedial speed. You are still catching until this red spot disappears. This coming up is the most frustrating of the cold sore stages.

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW -

Cold sore over-the-counter medications, experts agree, are primarily comfort treatments for the cold sore stages. Some contain numbing agents that momentously reduce your pain. Some cold sore medications contain an anti-bacterial to prevent secondary infections. None of these cold sore medications have been shown to in fact shorten the life-span of any of your cold sore stages.

Health check science has been working feverishly on a cure for the herpes virus but have not, as yet, had any real success in rising an powerful cold sore remedy. Prescription anti-virals, both the oral versions and the topical salves, have been a dismal failure for the most part. Vaccines are being tested but are 3-4 years out yet. New breakthroughs could be just around the corner though.

But you don’t need to wait!

More and more doctors now agree. There are times when untreated science just seems to be the best choice. Often our ONLY choice. This is certainly right – right now – for herpes cold sores.

Data studies have shown untreated science remedies can reduce the cold sore events by as much as 79%.

Yes! And, in fact, in fact prevent your cold sores from taking place when all's said and done.

The fantastic news – these remedies are void to you today.

If you are a cold sore victim, you would be well advised to look into these commanding untreated remedies without delay for shortening or preventing your cold sores.

Copyright 2005 drbodoh

Denny Bodoh is a newspaper publisher and 33 year experienced person research writer on alternative health and nutrition. If you want to know more about herpes and cold sores, and what you can do about them, visit his well loved site at: http://www.be-cold-sore-free.com

Author: Denny Bodoh
Article Source: EzineArticles.com